


The Very Best of Intentions

by Calliope_Soars



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-01-20 04:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1497082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calliope_Soars/pseuds/Calliope_Soars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Be careful what you wish for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mr. Intentional

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HelenVanPattersonPatton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenVanPattersonPatton/gifts).



> **Music** : _Mr. Intentional_ \- Lauryn Hill
> 
> I was having a crappy day and then I wrote this. I'm not sure what that says about me.  
> Thanks to the kind, wonderful, clever **[HelenVanPattersonPatton](http://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenVanPattersonPatton/profile)** for getting me excited enough to commit to this. (I want to get extra sappy but we're in public!)
> 
> Shout out to my other two amazing ladies as well, **[tinyfierceandsassy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyfierceandsassy/profile)** & **[alittlenutjob](http://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlenutjob/profile)**! 
> 
> Let me know what you think please.

_See the road to hell is paved with good intentions_

_Can’t you tell the way they have dimensions_   


* * *

  
  
There was a time when things moved smoothly between them. They had a comfortable ease that people envied, a rapport that had their surroundings questioning their status long before there was even a friendship to speak of. Despite an ever-present and playful tension to their relationship, from the very first moment they met there had been a level of honesty there that she can come to depend on. They had always known exactly how to hurt one another, that was for sure, but when you looked at the grand scheme of things the truth was never an intentional weapon between them. Their intention was to better the other, to better themselves, to be better together.

  
Their friendship had been hard won but her fierce determination had allowed her to break through his thick walls. She still prided herself on this, despite where they were now. Despite how they’d shattered years in a matter of days, she was proud of how she had been allowed into Danny Castellano’s world – however brief her stay may have been.

  
Perhaps that’s why she had made the wish. Perhaps it had been bitterness. Perhaps it was to regain what she had lost. She couldn’t say. She just sat on her bed, staring dumbly at how steady her hands seemed to be despite how terrifying the situation was. Mindy felt numb, glanced at the intricate amulet dangling in front of her and looked up to meet the gaze of its wearer. A low impatient hiss escaped the female creature towering above her.

  
“Sorry…I’m just, I’m processing.” Mindy felt stupid as she met yellow glowing eyes. She thought she recognised a look of exasperation but the thing’s features were so distorted she couldn’t be sure. Its red flesh was puckered, looking painful and raw, like skin that had been flayed until bloody and then immediately cauterised. The terror that she knew she should be feeling evaded her, as she was too busy letting the information sink in.

  
“I’m here to help.” The creature smiled then (or at least that’s what Mindy thought it was going for), baring a hideous row of fangs that made the statement seem more like a threat than anything else. “That man really did quite a number on you.”

  
Mindy’s stomach sank and she lamely swiped her palm along her tear-stained cheek for the first time that night. Her face flushed with shame, “No, I’m fine.”   
She felt a fierce need to save face and that terror that she had been missing was suddenly clawing at her insides. Mindy needed this thing gone. The creature cackled then, as if it had read her thoughts (maybe it had). It actually threw its head back and laughed at her. Mindy was getting pissed off now.

  
“Be gone demon, by the power of Christ I compel thee.” Mindy had watched enough horror movies to know that this was a safe route to go for. If only she had some holy water or something. It only laughed harder. The force of it actually shook the walls, causing Mindy to wrap her arms around herself.

  
“That’s not how this works sweetie,” the thing attempted another fanged smile. It looked utterly pleased with itself, “Besides, aren’t you Hindu?”

  
“Can you please just change back for a second…” Mindy shook her head as if to dislodge the jumble of frantic thoughts racing through it, “I just, I can’t think when you are looking all,” she screwed her face up a little, “demon-y.”

  
This was met with an arched brow, or something akin to it, and the air around the creature shimmered for a second until everything suddenly became too bright. Mindy had to blink hard, finally looking up to see the thing turning back into the familiar shape of Heather. The red head moved a hand through her hair and smiled, prettily this time. “Better?” Mindy just nodded.

  
“Shall I go get you some of the cinnamon cake I brought? I know how food settles you.” Mindy gave another quick nod, because it was infinitely easier to focus on the prospect of cake than to think about how the woman she’d stolen not one but two men from - was in fact a shape-shifting demon.

  
“Should I still call you Heather or…?” Mindy mumbled mid chew.

  
“It’s actually Hadriana,” she flicked her wrist absently and a chair slid across the bedroom floor towards her. “I prefer Heather though.” She sat down, looking a bit bored with this line of questioning.

  
“Listen, I didn’t mean it, you know.” Mindy figured it was best to just reason with the red head across from her. She knew her tendency for dramatics; this was in no way a real wish anyway. “I was just venting.”

  
Mindy had already polished off her piece of cake and was being so obvious about it that Heather huffed (quite rudely) and did her magic wrist flick to give her another piece.

  
“Again…” Heather said slowly, as if speaking to a child, “that is not how this works. You made a wish and I am in the business of granting them.” She watched Mindy begin to open her mouth to respond, so she quickly interjected, “I don’t think you’re taking me very seriously. Perhaps I shouldn’t be a perky red head for this conversation because you don’t seem to be getting the point.”

  
“No, no, I’m listening.” Fear flared up and was tearing at Mindy’s insides once more. Heather smiled slowly at her, which somehow looked more evil than when she had been in her demon form.  
Heather snapped her fingers, causing the television to turn on and Mindy curled into herself. “I’ll just rewind it a little.” The red head smiled her demonic smile again, twirling her index finger in the air. “Ah, here we are,” she snapped her fingers again. Mindy’s eyes were glued to the television.

  
It was her on the screen. Her and Danny. Her stomach lurched hard and Mindy thought she might throw up all the cake she’d inhaled earlier. “How?” She couldn’t finish her question because they were speaking and she was struck mute. Danny was explaining how he had to have her in his life and before she knew it tears were streaming down her face again.

  
“Stop.” Mindy begged, “I don’t want to see this again.” She tried to turn away from the screen, hoping against hope that the ending would be different this time. Mindy watched herself scream at Danny, a wild desperation in her voice, asking him why he had even started this. “Turn it off!”

  
Heather snapped her fingers again, that fucking smile still at her lips. Mindy wiped angrily at her face. “What’s the point of this?” She let out an annoyed huff, “why are you doing this? Clearly this is not you helping me.”

“Look at the TV again!”

  
Mindy heard the hiss of a threat lingering in Heather’s voice and complied reluctantly. She watched her curled up form shaking with the sort of intense hiccupy weeping that left one breathless. Mindy felt numb again as she watched the scene play out. As if it was someone else entirely, as if this hadn’t been her lying there just a few hours ago.

  
On-screen Mindy perked up at the sound of knocking at the door, a bright hopeful look in her eyes as she smoothed tissues along her eyes. Mindy’s stomach swirled with nausea at the sight, mutely chastising herself for ever thinking that he had come back. The scene fast-forwarded again, stopping at the moment where Heather was handing tissues to a weepy Mindy in her bedroom. “I just don’t understand why he’d even kiss me. Why start something like that and then take it away again.” On-screen Mindy hiccupped pitifully, turning her eager gaze up to Heather as if she might have the answers.

  
“I just wish he’d never kissed me at all, you know. I wish none of this had ever happened.”

  
Mindy watched with horror as her bedroom was filled with an unnatural bright light. She heard herself scream on the television screen, as Heather had morphed into her demonic shape and growled, “As you wish!”


	2. I Used To Love Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Music** : _I Used To Love Him_ – Lauryn Hill
> 
>    
> Apologies for the LONG delay - writer's block has me in a choke hold. I should state that Lauryn Hill is my soundtrack for this entire story.
> 
> Thank you **[Smapdi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Smapdi/profile)** for getting me off my ass  & for looking this over for me.
> 
> Also to my endless love **[HelenVanPattersonPatton](http://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenVanPattersonPatton/profile)** , you are (as always) a wonderful cheerleader <3

  _Torn and confused wasted and used_

_Reached the crossroad which path would I choose  
_

* * *

  
“Mindy…Mindy, wake up. You’re having another one of your bad dreams or something.”

  
Almost fully buried under her duvet, her heart was still racing anxiously. She flailed, her arms and legs pushing desperately against the comforter trapping her. “Oh God, oh no,” Mindy gasped for air. Still half asleep, she smacked her elbow hard against something firm to her left.  
  
  
“Ouch, Mindy, for God’s sake wake up!”  
  
  
Two hands were shaking her none too gently and she finally managed to stick her head out from underneath the covers, blinking groggily at the bright morning light. “I’m awake, I’m up. Jeesh calm down Da…” she was met with sharp blue eyes instead of the soft brown ones she was expecting. She quickly swallowed the name that lingered on her lips and instead weakly fumbled out, “d..dude, relax.”

  
However, Cliff did not seem too amused. She had forgotten that he was not a morning person. Disorientated and still quite sleepy, Mindy had a sick feeling that went far beyond her usual stress gagging. She pinched the inside of her arm hard, closing her eyes at the pain for a long beat and opening them to find the blond still lying next to her. A weak whimper left her mouth then and she instantly felt like crying.  
  
  
Why was she in bed with Cliff? Had she gotten crazy drunk after Danny had dumped her and then booty-called her ex? _Way to regress, Mindy._ She must’ve been super out of it because her nightmare had really been especially trippy last night. Mindy peeked down for a moment and was grateful to find that she was still fully clothed. Maybe nothing happened and this was all a misunderstanding. Maybe…God, she didn’t know. None of this was making any sense.

  
“You’re not even gonna apologise, are you?” 

  
Mindy arched her brow at him, questioning. She was so immersed in her internal freak-out that she had momentarily forgotten he was even there. She was clearly better at hiding her impending meltdown than she thought.  
  
  
“Sorry?” Mindy tried for a smile but all she could manage was an awkward smirk.  
  
  
“For smacking me in the face because of your night terrors,” Cliff explained, eyes bright with mirth. He added a broad smile for good measure.  
“You can kiss it better though.” Cliff smacked his lips together, moving his hands under the duvet to find her body and bring her closer. “Ew, no!” Mindy instantly recoiled – then tried to hide it with uncomfortable laughter while twisting her body away from his grabby hands.

  
Cliff looked like a kicked puppy, so she quickly scrambled to salvage the situation. “Not ew,” Mindy chortled and gave him an odd pat on the shoulder, all the while still keeping her frame as far from his as possible.

  
“Obviously…What I meant is that it’s just…uhm…” She really wasn’t good at thinking on her feet. “I’ve got a cold sore. You don’t, you really don’t want to be getting all up in this right now.” Mindy cupped her mouth with both hands and scooted out of bed until she nearly toppled over.  
 

“You were fine last night though.” Cliff looked genuinely confused while Mindy’s stomach flipped at his casual and intimate tone. She desperately hoped she hadn’t led him on during what must’ve been a post break-up ex-relapse. She really couldn’t break up with this man a second time, especially since she got dumped herself just last night.  
  
  
“Well it’s daytime now and…also yeah, I’m a doctor. Trust me, it’s for your own good,” she managed to keep the sob out of her voice, despite that fact that her heart was breaking. Why didn’t she recall anything? All she remembered was Danny breaking her heart and that horrible dream with Heather in it. Oh jeesh, how much had she had to drink?

  
“I’ve got an early morning at work.” Mindy watched Cliff frown at her from underneath her colourful duvet. “Wish I could stay in bed and cuddle though. Shucks!”

  
She forced her face to comply into smiling, took a deep cleansing breath and dashed into her bathroom to escape the awkwardness that was threatening to consume her.

* * *

   
Mindy wasn’t proud of how she’d handled the Cliff situation that morning, but it was still eternally better than having to have an awkward morning-after chat. She had surprised herself at the intense speed in which she had assembled a semi-presentable outfit, outdoing herself by managing to reach the office on time with a breakfast bear claw in hand.

  
The normalcy of the office seemed to momentarily settle something shaky and off-kilter in the pit of her stomach, although she still didn’t feel all that sturdy. Mindy forced herself to take a healthy bite out of her pastry as she gave a nod at Betsy’s enthusiastic morning greeting.

  
“Here are your messages, Dr L,” Betsy slid a small stack of colourful notes towards Mindy.

  
“Oh yes, I also went by the jeweller’s after work yesterday, like you requested,” the brunette added brightly and placed a pretty velvet box on top of the stack of messages.

  
“Oh sure, thanks Bets!” Mindy looked around her for a moment. She felt distracted, as if something bad was about to happen. A wave of nausea fought its way through her frame, causing Mindy to ditch her pastry in the trashcan next to the receptionist desk.

  
“Everything okay, Dr L?” Morgan had this ability to just sort of pop out of thin air. It was something Mindy had gotten used to, however today, it unnerved her and caused flashes of her nightmare to come back to her.

  
“Huh? Oh…yeah, why?” She really had to get it together, so she smoothed a hand down her pleated skirt to ground herself.

  
“I’ve just never – and I mean **never ever** – seen you throw away a bear claw before. Actually, just last week you ate one that you’d dropped on the pavement outside of the office. I was both grossed out and impressed…”

  
“I’m fine, Morgan!” Mindy couldn’t help but snap to stop Morgan’s ramblings. He quickly muttered an apology, looking hurt and confused. “I’m sorry Morgan, I’m just…my morning was weird.” She shook her head and flashed a broad smile at both Betsy and Morgan before ducking into her office.

  
Mindy dropped herself in her chair, not bothering to take her coat off. To be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to stick around this place while she felt this high strung. Mindy made a mental note to buy Betsy and Morgan some coffee later to make up for her weird mood.

  
She swivelled in her chair, uneasy and not particularly interested in doing any real work. This day was reaching epic levels of suckage. Swiping a finger along the stack of messages, Mindy’s gaze landed on the velvet box that Betsy had picked up for her. Good old Bets, it was like having your very own PA. She didn’t remember sending anything off to the jewellery store, but then again she had been in a haze of Danny drama ever since LA. Mindy shook her head, took a deep cleansing breath and silently vowed that was her last Danny related thought of the day.

  
Mindy scooted her chair closer to the desk, took a moment to pet the soft velvet and then flipped open the box. Resting on its silk cushion was a stunning diamond ring, the sight of which caused Mindy to let out a soft whimper of want. A little too intimidated to actually touch the ring, she instead tilted the box up and only then noticed the inscription of Tiffany on the inside of the lid.  
It almost caused her to drop the whole thing.

  
Mindy hit the intercom button on her desk phone. “Betsy, could you come in here please?”

  
“What can I do for you?”

  
It took a moment for Mindy to tear her gaze away from the ring box clasped in her hands and meet Betsy’s eyes. “This, uhm…this isn’t mine, Bets.” It was hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice, so instead Mindy cleared her throat and tried to look solemn.

  
“Oh no, did I pick up the wrong ring?” The brunette’s voice went all high and panicky. Mindy clicked her tongue, while giving the receptionist a look that conveyed _‘I am deeply disappointed in you, but you are forgiven.’_

  
“Yeah Betsy, I think you might’ve,” Mindy added in a whisper, while shutting the ring box with a loud clack. She imagined Beyoncé would be equally magnanimous to her PAs. Mindy handed the box over to the other woman.

  
“I’m so **SO** sorry Dr L. This is so embarrassing!” Betsy’s face turned three different shades of red, which still all managed to look super adorable on her.

  
As she opened the box, it looked like she might cry. Oh god, Mindy would have to send her away because she was not equipped for other people’s dramatics.

  
“It’s fine, it’s fine. You can just go back to the store and tell them you made a mistake. No big deal.” Mindy got up to shrug off her coat and hang it up. She didn’t notice Betsy’s little titter of relief. “Doctor Lahiri!” She sounded positively giddy and Mindy turned around to face her.

  
Betsy held the ring out for Mindy to see. “This **is** your engagement ring. You’ve dedicated a whole album to it on Facebook, titled Mrs Cliff Gilbert,” she was grinning hard and pushed the velvet box back into Mindy’s hands. “I’d recognise it anywhere.”

  
Mindy could vaguely hear Betsy going on and on about how she’d never seen anything as beautiful, how Cliff was so romantic, how they’d have the fairy-tale wedding just like Princess Diana had had. Blood rushed to her head too quickly and she really wanted to just lie down on the floor for a second.

  
“I’m getting married?” She let her body slide down the wall she was leaning against, her voice fully manic now.  
“To Cliff?! Oh God, Betsy, run – go, get me some water!” Mindy watched Betsy dash out of the room as she moved to sprawl out on the ground. The open Tiffany box was mocking her, the giant diamond engagement ring with the stunning sapphire side stones just part of some freaky nightmare to mess with her.

  
“Get me vodka instead!” Mindy screeched in the general direction of her fleeing receptionist.

* * *

  
(Here's [the engagement ring](http://nl.tiffany.com/engagement/item.aspx?GroupSku=GRP10042&selectedSku=18567156&search_params=param+1001/2002/0/0/0/0))

**Author's Note:**

> This was heavily inspired by one of my favourite **Buffy the Vampire Slayer** episodes, namely **The Wish**. The demon described above was clearly not Anyanka (cause I could never do her justice), but one of her fellow Vengeance demons.  
>  For those unfamiliar with BtvS (What is your life? Please go and fix this LOL) Anyanka was a Vengeance demon who specialised in granting wishes to scorned or wronged women.


End file.
